Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-06-19

They are not an intellectual looking sci
Of Cinnamon, but they are perhaps the
most expert imitatOrs in the world. They
get caught, however, and quite a,numbeI
of them are now in the penitentiaTieS.
Women counterfeiters are Ofall ages and
styles. Some are very pretty and Others
so homely that the Witch of EudOr would
look like Venus beside them. Counter
feiting often runs in families, and Col.
Brooks, the head of the secret service,
once told me that he thought il somewhat
hereditary. These women are more SUI
ceseful than men in getting rid of the cOun-
teTfeit money, and they can pass it where
men would fail. Nearly every gang OF
counterfeiters has one or two women pass
ers in it, and in families where the coun-
terfeiting is done the women or wives OF
the cOunterfeiters often attempt to put the
spurious money into circulation.
The money Is not as a rule passed out in
its new shape. There are variOns methods
of making the bills look old and give them
| the appearance of having been handled.
They are sometimes dipped in weak coffee
TO give them the brownish tint, oil is used
to produce the effect of finger marks, aud
the bills are rubbed this way and that
until they are soft and lose their rustling
nature.
/ am told that there is scarce an issue of
our money which has not been counter
feited, and | saw in this scrap book coun-
terfeit notes of all descriptions. One cur
iosity was a 81, 900 coupon of 1881, and the
government has a0I of these notes which
they captured just before they were ready
to be put upon the country. 1t is an ex-
cellent imitation, and it is impossible for
the ordinary man to detect the difference
between it and the original. It was en-
grayed by Smith, a man who had worked
for years for the engraving office in New
York which engraved the government
money. There were three men
in the scheme, Smith, BrOcEway and
Doyle. Smith was the engraver, Brock
way the manager and the brains of the
plot and Doyle was TO be the shower.
Smith is one of the finest engravers in the
United States, and he said that he worked
three years on the plate for this bond. He
lived In Brooklyn and did his work there.
After they were completed Doyle started
out to circulate them. He was captured
with the bonds in his possession on a rail-
road train just before reaching Chicago.
He had $41, 900 in counterfeit money
upon his person, and if he had but a few
minutes more be would have disposed of
his bonds. Smith got off by turning
States evidence, and BrOckway managed
to get away upon the same
grounds. Doyle got twelve years
in the penitentiary and Brock
way is now serving Q five years' sentence
for having forged some railroad bonds.
Smith confessed while on trial that he had
been eOunterfeiting all the time that he
had been working for the Government, and
it was found that he had been counterfeit
ing 500 bills. / here looked at specimens
of Smiths eOunterfeiting. His 500 bills
would pass anywhere, and the guard tells
me that one of the lady counters Of the
Treasury detected this from her familiarity
with his work as q Government engrayer.
Like a mans handwriting, be could not
disguise his originality.
Have any other Of the Government
bonds been cOqnterfered?" asked the
glard.
YES: there was a counterfeit several
years ago Of the old $50 issue. Jay Cook
took . number Of these bonds, and the
Treasury Department redeemed $1,000 of
them before their character was discover
ed. The Government had to enter suit to
recover the money, but did so, and the
hanks had to stand the loss. The most
cOunterfeiting is done in connection with